Cutchi Memon Jamat Publications

NEWS: Statehood demand for Kutch gains momentum - The Indian Express

In 1815, a large number of Cutchi Memons migrated from their homeland, Cutch to places such as Bombay (now Mumbai), Calcutta (now Kolkata), Madras (now Chennai), Alleppey (now Alappuzha) and Cochin (now Kochi). Those days, these places were considered important ports and commercial centers. The Cutchi Memons desired to expand their businesses by settling in these cities. Having learnt that Cutchi Memons were honest, hardworking and trustworthy businessmen, gave permission to them to settle down in Cochin. He wanted them to live permanently in his kingdom so that it would become prosperous y means of foreign trace and commerce.

Though we have no authentic information about early Cutchi Memon settlers in Quilon, we gather from some elders that, during their initial years of migration here, they were aware of five or six Cutchi Memon families settling in this city and neighboring areas such as Nadayara (near Varkala) and Anjengo, which were then both developing ports. This was when Raja Kesava Dasa was the Dewan of Travancore State. He was magnanimous in granting them all facilities to conduct their business of import and export of rice, coconut products and hill produces. Anjengo was, at that time, a British colony; the Cutchi Memon settlers had great contacts with Europeans who frequented the colony. These Cutchi Memons were sincere, honest, kind-hearted and deeply religious, earning them the respect and honor of other peoples of the area as well as the ruling Maharajah.

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A glimpse at the Cutchi Memon History - Jusbani Family....

(Original Kutchi Memon - Series ONE)
ORIGINALLY OUR ANCESTORS ARE FROM SIND PAKISTAN…………………… AND FROM MY MOTHERS SIDE ANCESTOR WAS A SUFI WHO CAME ALONG WITH PHIR ABDUL KADAR GILANI SOME 800 YRS AGO FROM IRAQ/ BAGHDAD.. AND SETTLED DOWN IN SIND/ PAKISTAN.
AFTER SOME YEARS OUR FAMILY WHO WAS KNOWN AS JUSBANIS , MOVED FROM SIND TO RAN OF CUTCHI .. JUSBANIS WERE A BIG CLAN , WHO CLAIMED THAT THEY HAD A LINK TO THE FAMILY OF JUSAB( YUSUF/ JOSEPH A VERY HANDSOME PROPHET … SON OF YACUB ( JACOB)….
SINCE THE FAMILY WAS ALREADY MOMIN ( MUSLIM ) …AND SETTELED IN CUTCH, THE HINDU PEOPLE LIVING THERE COULD NOT SAY MOMIN AND STARTED SAYING MEMONS……. OUR ANCESSTORS HAD FARMS , AND BUSSNIESS IN DAY TO DAY GOODS AND TRAVELLED A LOT BACJK AND FORTH FROM MADRAS , CEYLON AND EVEN AFRICA …. LATER IN 1800.. MY GREAT, GREAT , GREAT GRANDFATHER JUSAP( YUSUF ) ASKED HIS SONS ( 8 ) TO GO BOMBAY AND START A COMMUNITY ALONG WITH OTHER MEMONS LIKE ADAMJI, WAKAKI, LAKHANI AND FEW OTHERS …
NOW BOMBAY BECAME THE BASE OF MOMINS( MEMONS TO EXPAND THE BUSSNIESS AND REAL ESTATE , THEY TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY IN 1800 AND EXPANDED INTO A LARGE JAMAT, WHICH LATER BECAME CUTCHI MEMON JAMMAT OF BOMBAY….. AND MY GRANDFATHERS FATHER SALEMOHMAD JUSBANI , BECOME THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE CUTCHI MEMOM JAMMAT……. HIS FIVE SONS STARTED A CARPET AND FLOORING BUSSNIESS IN BOMBAY AND CALLED IT VENJARA CARPETS AND WAS REGISTERED IN 1879 WITH MUNCIPALITY OF BRITISH BOMBAY ….. AND MY GRANDFATHER WHO WAS A LAD …. SETH ESSAK SALEMOHAMD , LEARNED THE TRADE VERY WELL AND TOOK THE LAST NAME OF VENJARA , BY NOW WHICH HAD BECOME VERY FAMOUS IN BOMBAY AND THE REST IS HISTORY AND THE NAME VENJARA STUCK WITH US TILL TODAY AND I DO LIKE IT , ITS UNIQUE
WELL AHMEDANI I HAVE A FAMILY HISTORY OF 6 GENERATION BEHIND ME … PLEASE TELL ME AS HOW HALAI MEMONS CAME ABOUT , I DO KNOW A BIT ABOUT YOUR CLAN , FROM HALAR IN KATHIWAR IN INDIA , CLOSE AHMEDABAD/ INDIA .

Kutchi Memons go a long way back

The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News, Jul 25, 2008
Extract:

K. A. Martin
The Kutchi Memons who came here in 1815 first settled in Mattancherry

KOCHI: If a phrase can describe the Kutchi Memon community in Kochi it is great cultural resilience. In rebuilding their lives, so far away from the place of their origin, the first generation Kutchi Memons here demonstrated a remarkable ability to flourish in the face of greatest of odds.

“I just wonder how they made it to Kochi,” says Javeed Hashim of the Abad Group of companies of his great grandfathers who arrived in Kochi from Kutch, in Gujarat early in the 19th century.

Would it have been by sea? Or, over land? Whichever way they came, they showed great spirit. The same spirit of perseverance and enterprise that stand them in good stead to this day. Mr. Hashim is just one example of the way generations of Kutchi Memons, a close-knit and mostly endogamous community, have rebuilt their lives in their new homelands becoming ever closer to the societies that accepted them and at the same time, keeping alive the flame of cultural identity and social coherence. he language is a big factor that has kept our identity intact, says Mr. Hashim. “At home I speak Kutchi, and the moment I am out, I have to switch either to English or to Malayalam,” he says. Kutchi is a language closer to Sindhi than Gujarati. The Kutchi Memons who came here in 1815 first settled in Mattancherry, the hub of business and nucleus of the old city. They have now spread out into other parts as the city grew over the decades.There are about 500 families of Kutchi Memons in Kochi, says Rasheed Usman, president of the Kutchi Memon Association.

Religious festivals like Eid and social occasions like marriages are times when the community cements its unity. On days of religious festivals there are family get-togethers at places that are fixed by communities in each locality, says Dr. Sadath Sait, a Homoeopath.

And marriage celebrations last more than a week with the pre-marriage celebrations bringing together relatives and friends in large numbers to the homes of the bride and groom. While the community members have more or less adopted the local dress code, the older people still love to wear their traditional dresses. Dr. Sait says that the Kutchis love their food and though have adopted the local food in many ways, the mix of masalas or the preparation of Biriyanis etc differ a lot from the local practices. The Kutchi Memon Association and the Cutchi Memon Jamath are engaged in both charity work and also in helping the more needy members of the community. The Kutchi Memon Association lays great stress on helping people to attain higher education, says Adam Essack, the Association Secretary.

The Kutchi Memons have made their mark both on the political and business fronts in Kerala. Ebrahim Suleiman Sait and G. M. Banatwala, both from the Kutchi Memon community are examples of great innings in politics.[source]